Three Resources about Mobile Device Usage At Night

To advance Lake Norman Charter's mission, we focus our energy in strategic areas: Engagement, Global Diversity and Inclusion, and School-Life Balance.  Phase I of the School-Life Balance committee's plan, which I serve as Co-Chair, involves providing valuable resources in the areas of Health & Wellness to our stakeholders.

The focus of these resources for this post is Mobile Device Usage at Night.

Here are three resources shared with high school students and their parents:

NCTIES - Thank You LNC

I am very appreciative of the continued emphasis and support of lifelong learning by Lake Norman Charter.  Every year, LNC sends a team of educators to North Carolina Technology in Education Society (NCTIES) conference in Raleigh.

For years, I have been able to hear about the conference from our own teachers, administrators, and Instructional Technology Facilitators while annually "following" along via Twitter.  Furthermore, LNC has successfully been giving opportunities for our own teachers to present at NCTIES through their own submissions and being selected by the NCTIES Board.

This year, I was given the opportunity to attend myself.

My Ten Most Popular Blog Posts from 2017

The following is a list of my 10 most popular blog posts composed in 2017, based on Blogger page-views.  Listed with each post is the original posting date:

1.  My Day as MS Principal - Twitter Media
March 30, 2017

2.  Three Reasons E-Learning is Successful at LNC
January 11, 2017

3.  "Shadowed by the Principal" and #NoOfficeDay Live Blog
September 28, 2017

4.  The Need for Grit
December 4, 2017

5.  Stay Connected with LNC This Year through Twitter
August 10, 2017

6.  Learning and Validation
July 10, 2017

My Ten Most Popular Blog Posts from 2016

The following is a list of my 10 most popular blog posts composed in 2016, based on blogger page-views.  Listed with each post is the original posting date:

1.  Proud to Lead at LNC
March 3, 2016

2.  E-Learning Day Pilot
February 12, 2016

3.  "Shadowed by the Principal" & #NoOfficeDay
May 11, 2016

4.  New Morning Dual Drop-Off Procedure
August 21, 2016

5.  Beginning of Year Letter to LNC Families
July 28, 2016

6.  E-Learning Day Pilot - Student Survey Data
February 23, 2016

7.  The Year of 'First's'
June 13, 2016

8.  Appreciating Dr. Tulbert's 'Gutsy' Post
January 25, 2016

Six Tweets from the 7/13/15 #EdTechChat: "Demonstrating Leadership in #EdTech"

A3 Teacher-leaders influence peers by opening their classroom to demonstrate 'Best Practice', even modeling in another classroom #edtechchat

— Craig Smith (@CSmithGoBlue) July 14, 2015

Downloading Files from Google Drive

Google Drive allows you to download files for storage on a flash drive or other removable media.

Tech Savvy Leadership: 2/4/15 #ncadmin Chat Archive

Leading & Inspiring with Technology: #ncadmin + #cmsk12chat co-chat, 6/18/14

Through Technology, Teacher Doesn't Use Achilles as Excuse

Recently, one of our English teachers tore his Achilles Tendon at Cross-Country practice (Note: I will not be disclosing how the injury occurred, but it SHOULD be a completely separate blog post).  His injury required surgery last week, obviously placing him on the teaching disabled list.  His 4th Block class is Advanced Placement English III, so many of us were anxious about how to supplement the lost instruction in such a rigorous course.

Fortunately, this teacher implemented two effective technology-based strategies to interact and engage with his students:

1.  Early in the week, students were assigned various aspects of the Harper Lee novel To Kill A Mockingbird.  Students were placed in groups and were required to "teach" their peers.  On Thursday, students used my iPad to connect with the teacher using the FaceTime feature.  The teacher was able to prompt discussion topics, ask questions, and simply observe the presentations for accountability.

2.  On Friday, this teacher implemented and facilitated a strategy I have been encouraging some of our teachers to apply to their classes: His class participated in a twitter chat, or as he called it, a "Tweet Up".  The class used the hashtag #tkam4, representing the previously mentioned literature.  I was able to observe the chat (not physically, of course) and was very pleased with the active engagement demonstrated by students.  Students without a twitter account and/or mobile device were able to work in pairs.  The teacher posted questions, ideas, and discussion points.  Students made specific references by citing examples and quotes from the text.  At times, the teacher only needed to prompt a topic and students generating the conversation.  I suggested the use of Storify to archive the tweets for future use.

Mr. McAlister-we look forward to your return, but I commend your technology-based initiative while recovering.

Thanks for reading,

CS



The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith     and do not represent the school or district in which he works.

Student Engagement Eye-Opener

Imagine it's a mid-year school day.  School begins promptly at 8 am, but with a one-hour early release at 2 pm.  But, there is one major adjustment for the schedule of the day.  Each student will report to one class and remain in that class ALL DAY LONG.  In addition, students will report to a course in which they have failed previously.

My Response to GCS Pinnacle Technology Integration

This is a response to the blog post published on the GCS Pinnacle Blogspot regarding Technology Integration

To the GCS Instructional Tech. Facilitators and Pinnacle team,

I hope you don't mind a member of the GCS administrative team sharing my thoughts:

Through the school-based recommendations and professional development, along with the fantastic collaborative opportunities our Pinnacle teachers receive, it would be safe to say the majority of you would "Meet" and/or "Exceed" on these essential conditions.  As I picture the teachers in my building who integrate technology regularly and effectively, positively impacting student-learning, I believe they would also be rated similarly.

I believe the primary issue is the lengthy gap between teachers meeting theses standards and teachers far from reaching the technology standard.  Consequently, this alters the essential standard rating for the entire school and, more importantly, limit the adequate 21st-Century based (sorry, we agreed to simply call this "learning") learning necessary for our students to be successful.

On that note, I challenge all of our Pinnacle teachers to be technology integration leaders in your grade-level teams, PLC/PLN's, and schools, both formally and informally.  The primary reason non-tech savvy teachers shy aware from incorporating these instructional strategies is fear.  Help eliminate the fear through proactive support and collaboration, ensuring EVERY teacher MEETS these essential technology conditions.

Thank you to our Pinnacle Leaders.  Keep up the great work!!

Thanks for reading and follow me on Twitter @CSmithGoBlue.

CS

The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith and do not represent the school or district in which he works.

Information Technology Essential Standards

The Instructional Facilitator's did a great job with their presentation on the Information Technology Essential Standards last month for both Principal's and Assistant Principals.  The link to the presentation can be found here:



ITES

The YouTube clips are great, demonstrating some of the strategies that allow teachers to incorporate these standards into their instruction.  I really like the young girl explaining how "QR Codes" work.  As a matter of fact, I created a QR code the day after the meeting and it is still on my office door.

Located in the presentation are five "Fast Facts" of the ITES:

• The ITES are to be embedded within all areas of the curriculum.

• Classroom teachers are responsible for teaching the new ITES standards beginning this current school year.

• Media Coordinators and Technology Facilitators, as ITES experts, will collaborate with teachers to plan, create, teach, and assess effective student instruction.

• The ITES must be taught in all North Carolina schools-in places where technology is prevalent, as well as schools with limited technology access.

• Technology and information tools and resources must be taught and used in authentic ways.

This is simply a small sampling of the technology needed to incorporate the new Information Technology Essential Standards into our classrooms.  It's important for school leaders to become familiar with these standards, as well as comfortable discussing their implement them into instruction.    


Thanks for reading and follow me via Twitter @CSmithGoBlue

CS

The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith and do not represent the school or district in which he works.